Officials: Nearly a foot of rain fell on Kenner during Francine

Damage assessments are beginning in Kenner after flood waters from Hurricane Francine continue to recede early Thursday morning.

According to Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley and Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng, the amount of rain that Francine dumped on the city far outpaced the capacity of the parish's pumps.

"This storm, from my calculations, stayed over us for about an hour-and-a-half to two hours and dumped anywhere from nine to eleven inches of rain on us in a short period of time and just overwhelmed the drainage system," Conley told WWL's Scoot on the Air. "I don't know of any system in the world that could have kept up with the rainfall we got."

According to Conley, 76 police units were patrolling during the storm. However, because the water rose so quickly, officers had to seek high ground, park their cars, and patrol on foot.

Conley says Francine's rains compounded a problem created by last week's monsoon.

"Not only did (Francine) sit on top of us, due to the rainfall that we've had in the last week or two and the ground saturation and the water having nowhere to go, we understood when people called us panicking during the storm (saying) that they had everything from three inches to a foot of water in their house," Conley said. "We tried to get to them as quickly as we could after the storm passed."

Lee Sheng says the flooding impacted the Eastbank much more than the Westbank, which she says received only five inches of rain compared to the nearly one foot of precipitation Kenner experienced. She says that flooding caused sewerage backups on the Eastbank.

"The sewer system took on a lot of storm water. That was not supposed to happen. We need time to get out there with our vacuum trucks (and) with our portable generators if they don't have electricity or if the pumps blew out with our temporary pumps."

Lee Sheng says crews are at the ready to begin fixing the sewerage problem, but she says they need the light of day to be able to work. In the meantime, Lee Sheng urges Jefferson Parish residents to conserve water to avoid causing further sewerage backups on the Eastbank.

"Let's not put more water in the sewer system," Lee Sheng said. "The toilet flushing, taking your shower, taking your bath, washing your dishes: all of that stuff puts out sewer water. We really need people to conserve water."

Lee Sheng said she would provide an update on the sewerage system during a Thursday briefing.

Meanwhile in Kenner, Chief Conley says he and other city leaders are now surveying storm damage.

"I just took a ride through the city of Kenner," Conley said. "The water has subsided to where we can get a good idea of damage assessments."